Potter - GoF Transfer Issue (1 Viewer)

[Shane_M]

I picked up Potter on DVD Tuesday and when I watched it I noticed in the darker scenes that it was blocky. Most notably was the open sequence (I haven’t finish the whole thing yet). It's the Canadian 2-disc SE version that I'm having the trouble with. It's not my setup because other films with the same kind of dark scenes do not become blocky.

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[Matthew Clayton]

I watched the regular 2-disc U.S. SE, I didn't notice a problem with blocking. (Of course, I watched it on my laptop, because I don't have a large widescreen TV or rear projection system.) The only thing I noticed with the transfer was in the darker scenes, there was a thin veil of grain and the blacks looked too deep. Otherwise, the transfer was clean, crisp and detailed.

 

[Allen_Kir]

I also had problems with the darker scenes. I'm not sure how to discribe it but the black is wierd and you can't see detail.

 

[David Allen]

I noticed that the 5.1 audio tracks (only two audios on this disc) are encoded at 384kbps instead of 448kbps.

 

[Shane_M]

I hadn't checked that yet. I'm going to get some screen caps tonight if the flaws show up on my monitor.

 

[DavidPla]

I remember in the theatre the dark scenes were pretty hard to see especially in the opening.

 

[greg_t]

I think it is very noisey in the opening grave yard scenes as well.

 

[Mark Lucas]

I think these are all problems regarding the look of the film, not the transfer itself.

 

[Holadem]

The second time I watched the film in the theater, I noticed an undeniably digital look, blockiness and the kind of shimering you would find in video games. I rather remember that in very bright/white scenes like the one at the Owlery, featuring Chow against a snow caped mountain background. I have no idea how that would occur with a projector. I did not notice this phenomenon at my first screening (different theater), but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.

Just what I observed.

--
H

 

[dailW]

bought the single disc on tues. morning came home , put it in and while i was watching it , i was thinking to my self this is the worst transfer since tequila sunrise.so much black ringing and the problem i have is , the movie is the only thing on the disc.

 

[Allen_Kir]

That's exactly how my dark scenes look...

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Thought mine looked pretty good, softer than I'd like in parts, but I didn't see any blocking or artifacts.

I wonder if there is a difference in PQ between the 1-disc and 2-disc. I have the 2-disc.

 

[Scott Calvert]

I'm not a big fan of the look of this film as well. I'm guessing the dvd transfer is ok it's just the look of the film that's the problem. It looks like a lot of other special effects heavy movies have looked over the last several years (especially Lord of the Rings). It looks like they have run the thing through a digital grading doohikey and twiddled every knob they could find just because they could.

I don't think it's a very pleasing look. It doesn't look like film.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

There were transfer problems on the last Potter disc too... and a copy protection watermark that popped up on screen.

Has anyone looked at the overall bitrate?

Is Warner Brothers doing a Sony and deliberately crapping on the DVD versions in order for the inevitable HD-DVD and Blu-Ray releases to look that much better?

Why would WB go back to 384 kilobit/sec DD? This is an A-list title!

That's why I'm hoping ultra high res. lossless or uncompressed LPCM become the norm on Blu-Ray. No more of this compressed garbage.

Dan

 

[Matthew Marino]

I noticed that in the opening scene they added a gradient of black over many shots (probably to give Harry's 'vision' a unique look). This was the worst looking section of the movie in my opinion and several others. I also remember it looking a bit disorienting in the theater as well.

 

[Shane_M]

Well, I finally tested it on my PC and it looked fine. None of the flaws are present, or as present. I did screen caps and even adjusted the brightness to see if the same thing occurs.

I watched it on a 32" Toshiba Flat Screen through component cables. I'm going to try on another setup this week and see if it re-occurs there.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

At least I didn't see any flashing numbers on this one- I could've gotten this early but waited a few days to make sure that at least nobody else saw any on it. I need to find a way to cut those offending frames out of the last movie

 

[Paul Anthony]

Yeah, I too noticed that dark look when watching "The Goblet of Fire" on the big screen. It's still has that dark look on DVD, kind of icky looking sometimes.

 

[JoSAN]

.

 

[ScottR]

The numbers in the Azkaban scene were a mistake from the poster seen to the left of the numbers. The numbers were supposed to be seen on the posters, but the wrong numbers were used and the mistake wasn't deleted from the print.